Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy

In 1830, Belgian Catholics and Liberals had together adopted a constitution that declared the separation of church and state. The constitutional efforts of the Catholics in Belgium, Ireland, and Poland helped convince Hugues Felicite Lamennais (1782-1854) to give up his traditionalist demands in favor of liberal and democratic ones, which he defended in the journal L’Avenir (1830/31). Lamennais can be credited with being the first theorist to draw up a body of principles justifying from a Christian perspective a constitutional order that includes basic liberal rights and the separation of church and state.